Federal Funds To Dade County Schools Totals Nearly $600,000

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The last Dade County Board of Education meeting of the summer was on July 22. The short meeting covered federal program funding allocations and approved a new baseball/softball hitting facility at Dade County High School.

Josh Ingle (superintendent) noted that August 5 is the system-wide in-service day. Educators will gather at Dade County High School to recognize the teachers of the year and hear from guest speaker Morris Morrison.

Jeremy Roerdink (director of federal programs and safety) then gave the annual update on allocations received through federal program designations (Title I, Title II, and Title IV). Later in the meeting, the board voted to accept these allocations.

He noted that last year’s allocations were up from the previous year, but this year saw a decrease. The total amount from federal programs is $559,724, which is $61,997 less than last year’s total, but Roerdink reported that the areas where these funds are used will not be negatively impacted. The state warned districts that the amount would be less this year, and other counties also saw a drop because of 2020 census data.

Before diving into the allocations, Roerdink reported on (and the board approved) the continuation of the Parent and Family Engagement Plan. Having a Parent and Family Engagement Plan is a requirement for districts that receive Title I funds, and it focuses on communication with and feedback from parents.

The schools sent out surveys and held meetings to hear from families, teachers, and principals. Open houses, transition nights (from elementary to middle school and middle to high school), and Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) events also are part of the plan. Roerdink said, “We’re trying to help parents educate their kids…We also make sure that we are building the capacity of our staff.”

He noted several successful PTO nights from last year that focused on math, reading, and STEM subjects. Jayne Griffin (At-Large) asked about the level of parent engagement, and Roerdink said that the PTO events were well attended, but they also look for more engagement throughout all of these initiatives.

Roerdink then listed the federal program amounts. This year’s Title I allocation is $446,231 to be used for supplies/clothes for homeless students, and funding instructional coaches, interventionists, kindergarten paraprofessionals, and some instructional software.

This year’s Title II allocation is $76,344 to be used for an instructional coach at the middle school; Learning Focused schools contract; teacher mentor program; AP, special ed, and gifted certification classes; district trainings; and ongoing professional development for teachers and staff.

This year’s Title IV allocation is $37,149, funding the elementary schools’ part-time art teacher.

During the financial report, Loran Grasham noted that July 1 marked the start of the new fiscal year, and SPLOST V (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) is complete. She said the general fund will close out at the end of September.

The SPLOST V breakdown is as follows:

• 48 percent was used for improvement/maintenance.
• 19 percent was used for supplies.
• 18 percent was used for technology software and security.
• 10 percent was used for transportation.
• 5 percent was used for textbooks.

SPLOST VI’s balance is currently $7,746,750.29. Also, 93.02 percent of grants for FY24 were spent, with the remaining amount rolling over into the current fiscal year, FY25.

The board then approved the purchase of two new school buses from International for $146,500 per bus. International was the only company that submitted a proposal.

John Smith (director of facilities, maintenance, and transportation) noted that the district maintains 27 buses, two of which are the smaller “activity” buses while the large ones seat 83 people. With these two new buses, all 20 regular bus routes will be serviced by air-conditioned buses, while the five older buses are used as spares.

Circling back to last month’s discussion of the broken bus transmission, Smith noted that it is being replaced for free aside from labor costs.

The board then briefly discussed a baseball/softball facility. Ingle said, “Back in May, we put out request for proposals for a baseball/softball/physical education/hitting facility.” He recommended going with the Pillar Construction proposal. The board approved this proposal.

The Sentinel followed up with Ingle who explained that this new hitting facility will be directly across from the central office, right by the baseball field. The contract with Pillar Construction is for $689,100, a small portion of which will be used to make the greenhouse ADA accessible from the school (since the crew will already be onsite).

The board did not have an executive session.

The personnel report is as follows:

• Resignations: Kayla Brook Gilbert, Allison Dean, Bailey Reed
• Hires: Christopher Payne, Troy Stevens, Jackie Tinker, Kelsy Smith, Mariah Orton, Lisa Arnold, Paige Hill
• Voluntary Transfer: Spring Shutt